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Low fares‘risk’ forbus systemThomas Coughlanthomas.coughlan@stuff.co.nz

Transport

Wellington’s public transport net-work risked being overwhelmedby an influx of passengers undera scheme to subsidise fares forpeople on low incomes, accordingto newly released documents.

The Government looked lastterm at creating a green transportcard to subsidise public transportfor as many as 900,000 Com-munity Services Card holders,including beneficiaries, refugees,low-income families, andstudents.

But NZ First blocked thescheme, proposed by the GreenParty, at Cabinet.

The policy was not ready forimplementation under the lastgovernment, said Labour’s newTransport Minister, MichaelWood. He declined to say whetherLabour would press ahead withthe scheme this term.

If it had gone ahead, theGreater Wellington RegionalCouncil would have had ‘‘themost challenges’’ of all the largeregional councils in getting readyfor the greater public transportpatronage that would come withcheaper fares, according to policywork released under the OfficialInformation Act.

The council feared the region’spublic transport was not readyfor additional demand on the net-work at peak times, and evenasked for the rollout to be delayedby two years.

The Ministry of Transport lastyear asked regional councils howcheaper fares for CommunityServices Card holders wouldwork on their public transportnetworks.

Councils in Christchurch andAuckland had enough capacity toget the scheme running earlier,although Auckland said it couldtake 18 months to adapt itsticketing system.

But transport officials said theGreater Wellington RegionalCouncil was ‘‘very concernedabout the impact on its bus net-work if on-peak services areincluded [in the scheme]’’.

‘‘[The council] is concernedabout the difficulties it is cur-rently facing in increasing publictransport capacities at peaktimes,’’ it said, according to thenewly released papers.

The problem ran deep, withthe council saying ‘‘it would taketwo years to resolve its capacityissues’’.

Buses were not the only prob-lem for Wellington. The councilalso said the card could be ‘‘diffi-cult to implement’’ ahead ofintegrated ticketing being rolledout on the city’s trains in 2021.

This is because the transportcard would work as another layeron top of existing travel cards,such as the Snapper card, but thisis a problem in Wellington, wheretrains use paper tickets, ratherthan electronic cards.

The brouhaha over papertickets meant the Greater Wel-lington Regional Council was theonly council that did not favourthe 50 per cent subsidy.

Ministers initially wanted thecard to be up and running by thisyear. Transport officials pushedback, saying mid-2021 was theearliest feasible date.

‘‘Among councils, GWRCwould face the most challenges inimplementing the scheme by mid-2021,’’ officials said.

‘‘This is due to the difficulties[the council] is facing to increasethe capacity of Wellington’s pub-lic transport network’’.

Council chairman DaranPonter said it was still keen for asubsidy.

But he said that, if Labour wasto resurrect the scheme, the coun-cil would be looking for the Gov-ernment to pay not just the sub-sidy but the cost of increasingcapacity on the network, such asnew trains and electric buses.

Pike River grief felt as keenly today as 10 years ago

Thomas Manch andBridie Witton

The 10thanniversary ofthe Pike RiverMine disasterwas rememberedin the LegislativeCouncil Chamberat Parliamentyesterday.

GETTY IMAGES

‘Change stillneeds to happen’

Bernie Monkattaches a flowerto the memorialwheel inBlackball for the29 men lost atPike River. Hisson Michael waskilled in the mine.

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The Pike River families wanted tobe at Parliament, a decade onfrom the explosion that killedtheir loved ones.

Parliament was ‘‘where thechange still needs to happen’’,Anna Osborne, whose husbandMilton Osborne died in thetragedy, told the audience of 34families and politicians, includingPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern,yesterday.

Osborne was among the 29men who died in the explosion atthe West Coast mine, a decadeago yesterday. It is a disaster thathas haunted the families since.

Those who took the stage atthe memorial service, framed bylarge bouquets of flowers andscreens displaying the men’sfaces, spoke of corporate greed,inadequate health and safety,and a failure to put right whatwent wrong.

Resoundingly, the messagewas captured by Osborne: ‘‘Thisshould never have happened ...Our laws are simply not beingenforced. This changes now.’’

She was married to Milton for18 years. She described him as a

man who gave his time freely tothe community. He was a seniormember of the Ngaherevolunteer fire brigade and a GreyDistrict councillor.